Rally of Turkey: BP-Ford leg one summary

Ford drivers play tactical mastercard after dominating in Turkey
BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team controlled today's opening leg of the
Rally of Turkey with a masterful blend of speed and strategy. Mikko
Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and ...

Ford drivers play tactical mastercard after dominating in Turkey

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team controlled today's opening leg of the
Rally of Turkey with a masterful blend of speed and strategy. Mikko
Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen and team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka
Anttila held the top two positions in Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars
throughout a tough day's driving in the south of the country. Both then
deliberately eased their pace in the final few metres to drop down the
leaderboard to earn a more favourable start position tomorrow.

Hirvonen, who led for most of the day, dropped to fifth while Latvala
lies third. Each will be handed those positions in the start order
tomorrow and so avoid the huge disadvantage of being first and second
over roads covered by slippery loose gravel. They will benefit from the
cleaning process of the cars ahead, who will sweep the stones from the
surface to leave a clearer and faster line from which Hirvonen and
Latvala hope to benefit.

This eighth round of the FIA World Rally Championship roared into action
in Antalya last night with a show speed test in the grounds of the
university. The competition began for real today when drivers tackled
eight more special stages on demanding gravel roads in the Anatolian
mountains, which tower above the rally base in the holiday resort of
Kemer, on the edge of the Mediterranean. They faced 154.90km of
competition in total, and while conditions in the mountains were cooler,
shade temperatures in Kemer touched a roasting 32C.

Hirvonen was second in the start order and built a 6.9sec lead over
Latvala on the opening loop of three stages. Although Latvala moved
ahead briefly during the second loop, Hirvonen moved back into top spot
and the 27-year-old led his colleague by 2.0sec going into the final
22.40km test. As soon as championship rival Sebastien Loeb, running
first in the start order, reached the finish, the team advised Hirvonen
of the time in which he needed to complete the stage so as to drop behind
the Frenchman on the leaderboard.

The Finn slowed just before the finish line and watched almost 20sec pass
before completing the test. Four drivers moved ahead of him, to give
Hirvonen a perfect position from which to attack tomorrow.

"It's a risk to do this because we haven't won anything yet and there are
only two stages for Loeb to clean tomorrow, but these are better
circumstances for me than being first on the road," he said. "If I had
been leading tomorrow, I don't think I would have been able to keep him
behind me because my 14sec advantage wouldn't have been enough. The plan
now is to attack hard and build a big enough lead to take into the final
day. I'm sure Loeb will fight hard, but I feel confident.

"He drove well in his start position and there's a lot for me to learn
from him today. Even though my driving style is more sideways than his,
there was still a cleaner line for me to follow. I was able to both
drive quickly and control the situation when I needed to tonight. My
only problem was dust in the car. About 7km from the end of the third
stage there was a large impact under the car and it quickly filled with
dust. The impact made a hole under the floor behind Jarmo's seat and it
was hard to see. We needed to block it up because it was like a
sandstorm!"

After lying fourth overnight, Latvala punctured a front right tyre on the
opening stage to lose 30sec and slip to 14th. However, he set a stunning
fastest time in the next Myra test, more than 15sec quicker than his
closest rival, to climb to third and amazingly took second on the next
stage. "I hit a sharp loose rock about 12km after the start and the tyre
went down immediately," said Latvala. "There are many loose rocks and
it's important to leave a safety margin in the bends, but I slid wide
coming over a crest into a right corner and clipped the rock," he
explained.

Latvala blitzed the Myra stage for a second time this afternoon to take
the lead but another front right puncture in the following test cost
15sec and allowed Hirvonen back in front. The 23-year-old Finn copied
Hirvonen's tactics on the final stage to drop from second to third, just
1.1sec behind Loeb. "The team strategy was to not be first in the order
tomorrow. It's not easy there in these conditions, I don't like it and I
didn't want to be there. You need experience to perform that role well
and I don't have that. The plan was to be in front of Mikko and I feel
very satisfied tonight," he said.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi team director Malcolm Wilson reflected on a successful
opening day. "It was a superb performance from the team. Both drivers
drove brilliantly to enable us to put a strategy into place which they
executed to perfection. We now have a great start position for both
drivers," he said.

News from our Rivals

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) set two fastest times en route to an unwanted
lead, just 1.0sec ahead of Henning Solberg (Ford). Behind Latvala is
Stobart driver Gigi Galli (Ford), the Italian also slowing on the final
stage to gain a better position. He won three stages. Petter Solberg
(Subaru) holds sixth despite broken front right suspension this
afternoon. Dani Sordo (Citroen) was fifth until a rear left puncture and
suspension damage on stage seven cost nearly a minute and he is eighth.
Urmo Aava (Citroen) was fastest on today's opening stage but retired
after damaging his car's suspension on the next test while Chris Atkinson
(Subaru) retired from ninth this afternoon with broken front suspension.

Tomorrow's Route

The second day revisits the same territory in the maze of roads that
zig-zag through the Anatolian mountains. After restarting at 08.30,
drivers face seven stages covering 137.66km before returning to Kemer for
the final overnight halt at 20.59. The last test is a second pass over
the super special stage at Antalya's Akdeniz University.